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Saturday, November 23, 2013

A few of you support our work by occasional contributions.
You have no idea how helpful this has been. Left to himself, Bruce would never
ask you for help. But I will.

We’ve located a collection of relevant – really important –
booklets. These were all published in the early 1840s. We’ve been looking for
these for over ten years. Usually when they are available they sell for 100-500
dollars each. So in the last ten years we’ve found one booklet by this
publisher that we could afford. We have none of these.

A bookseller acquaintance told us of this lot. I’ve sold a sterling
silver bowl. (I’m certain my great-great gramma doesn’t mind since she’s been
dead for a long time.) Bruce sold a book signed to him by a well-known author.
We’re left with $115.00 to raise in two days.

Usually when we let something go because we can’t afford it,
it’s not a huge matter. This time it will be. These booklets all relate to the
Millennarian movement, the source of Russell’s theology and prophetic
viewpoints. We have never seen some of these, though we know they exist. Some
are not listed in OCLC and are not on Worldcat.org. They’re that rare. And they
are important.

It is up to you, of course, whether you can help out here or
not. Time is short. Help if you can.

Contributions can be made to Bruce’s paypal. There is a
contribution button on the private blog or you can use the contact email
associated with this blog and I’ll direct you to the right place.

Our profoundest thanks to those who can help.

One of the pamphlets in the collection.

If you read Nelson Barbour the Millennium's Forgoten Prophet

you've met Mr. Habershon.

--

Now, let me update you on progress. We have an afterward
left to write. It will tell readers what to expect from volume two. We are not
including an index with volume one. The index will appear at the end of volume
two. We are deleting an essay on sources. The footnotes speak for themselves.
Those sources that are especially unreliable are noted in the main text.

We’re eighty percent done with the last chapter. We’ve
changed the outline twice. Some things we planned on including in it will
appear in a more logical place in volume two. This chapter tells the story of
Barbour and Russell’s separation in a more coherent and cogent way than it’s
been told before. We include details never presented. We spent more time than
it was worth trying to track down some of H. B. Rice’s papers. I finally found
the person who was supposed to have them only to discover that they did not
really exist. Still, we have a very clear history of Rice and will tell you
what his role in this affair was.

We tell this story chronologically, so we interrupt the
ransom-atonement arguments with events as they happened. Key intervening events
are the prophetic conference of 1878, the Feltwell controversy, and Rice’s
entry into the discussion. We’ve spent this past week clarifying some
paragraphs and discussing what we’re including in the last section.

Monday, November 18, 2013

In the 1970s I used to
do a slide and motion picture talk on the history of the Watch Tower Society – doing
a balancing act with a slide projector, cassette tape recorder, and eventually
cine projector, plus microphone and my own voice. It was somewhat fraught, but
the Photodrama of Creation played a big part in this.

Initially my “slides”
were actually photographs of the 40 plus postcards of the Photodrama that I had
obtained via another hobby. Later, copies of slides became available. But some
odd frames of film of CTR were in circulation – often stuck on cards as
souvenir bookmarks. I managed to track down their source and in the early 1970s
visited an elderly JW who had been a projectionist in 1914. I managed to
retrieve from his attic a roll of film of CTR, and to cut a long story short,
that piece of film now features in the reconstructed Photodrama videos
available online. (The person who put it all together with extreme dedication has
subsequently managed to complete the sequence, adding the bits that my source
had sadly already cut off the roll for souvenirs)

My source, who had the
initials HR, told tales of being imprisoned in a metal projection box at some
places. Because most commercial film was nitrate stock – although surprisingly
the Photodrama films weren’t – they were highly inflammable, and after some
disasters with picture houses burning down, in the UK at least it was customary for
the projectionist to be buried in a metal box. If the film caught fire – well,
he could trust in the resurrection – but the audience could get out. HR told
tales of working in his under garments, it was so hot in the box at times.

There were about half a
dozen who were trained at the same time, he did the work for about six months,
and met CTR in person at the London opening. (He also knew Jesse Hemery, Paul
Johnson and others of that era, but that’s another story).

In 1974 I wrote him for
some further information – asking about such matters as how many staff were
needed for a full performance, how many films of Pastor Russell were shown, how
the heralded synchronized sound was achieved (or not as the case may be), and how
the Eureka Drama worked? I don’t have a copy of my original letter – these were
pre-computer days – but I do have his reply, in very neat
handwriting for someone who was then in his late eighties – and still travelled
around by motorised bicycle (moped).

I am reproducing his
reply here – and the questions I must have asked him initially will be fairly
obvious.

Dear ....

Thank you for your
letter. I am very pleased to have been able to contribute something towards the
picture.

It is going back nearly
to the “Dark Ages” to try and recall what happened.

Sometimes the
projector operator would see all 4 parts through – other times he took his part
1,2,3, or 4, to another exhibition.

There was one
part shown each night.

2.Film of Bro
Russell opened each part.

The “Hallelujah
Chorus” was played just preceding, and as it stopped, the film of CTR came on
screen.

3.The
synchronization of the films with the talking record was achieved by the skill
of the operator – one controlled the film according to the voice and movement
of CTR’s hands.

As one example
in part three, there was a Frenchman (I think) singing “La Rameau” which also
had to be synchronized.

If you were too
quick (not understanding French) he would walk off – while song was still on!!!

The variable
speed of the m/c (machine) was only the skill of the operator. Machines had a “Maltese
Cross” which jerked the picture down each revolution to the next.

4.No such thing as
sound track was even heard of in those days – but music was played with
films.

5.The ‘Eureka’ was
an entirely different matter, and only used, as far as I know, where no
electricity was available – such as country villages – I did six of them – I cannot
remember now if any music was used with these.

Re: no. 1
addition – 2 gramophones were used where it was possible to get them (on loan
from local shop)

Trust this
information, to the best of recollection, will fill in some details.

The films
gradually wore out, particularly part 3, where Jesus in coloured robe, required
more light and thus heat, so the films tended to cockle,
resulting in broken sprockets – most machines would not take such film – the Guilbert
machine, with a little coaxing, would pass it – hence No 3 part had to have
that machine, which incidentally, I got stuck on quite a bit, latterly.

I enjoyed the
work, and to this day the sound of the “Hallelujah Chorus” will quicken my
pulse.

I can’t think of
anything else, but a question from you may jog the memory, so write if you wish
too (sic)

Sunday, November 17, 2013

They must be relatively short, well documented, without speculation. Personally, I'd like to see articles on the Photo Drama in Europe. There were separate Polish and German versions. I know little about them, though I've seen some of the alternative slides.

There are all sorts of things that can be said about it. Bruce - our fearless leader - knew one of those who worked on gathering the slides. Fun fact, huh? We have a few of the glass slides. But we'd like to see original, documented research. Probably under two thousand words.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Note
about dates: Most of the dates given in this article only refer
to the month and the year. There are discrepancies between published
genealogies of the Russell family, as well as newspaper reports and interment
registers. In most cases the difference is likely between date of death and
date of interment, but it is simpler just to give month and year. At this
distance, it doesn’t really matter all that much.

As cities in America grew in the 19th
century, the problem of burying the dead became an issue, involving both public
health and space. Town and city graveyards tended to be small, sectarian, and
full. The rural cemetery or garden cemetery was a solution. It was designed to
be a landscaped region that allowed the public to have parkland outside the
city area, while also allowing the families of the rich to indulge in
eye-catching memorial architecture. The latter seemed to work on the principle
that, while you may not be able to take it with you, at least you could show
the huddled masses you’d once had it! It also took the burial of the dead
outside of church control.

The first rural cemetery in America was founded
near Boston in 1831. Quickly others followed, including the one where most of
CTR’s immediate family are buried, in Allegheny. The Allegheny model was
chartered in 1844, and the grounds (originally one hundred acres of farmland)
were dedicated to their new use on September 20, 1845. Other tracts of
surrounding land were later purchased, so that a 1910 guide describes the
cemetery as having grown to a little over 273 acres, divided into 39 sections.

Modern publications give a figure of around
300 acres, divided into 48 sections with fifteen miles of roadways. The area is
carefully landscaped with well established trees, and is a haven for wildlife.
Over 124,000 are buried there. Perhaps the most famous resident is Stephen
Foster, the nineteenth century composer. One of the Memorials is for the child
victims of the Allegheny Arsenal explosion in 1862 that is mentioned in chapter
one of the current history book in progress. Forty-five of the victims were
buried in Section 17 of the Allegheny cemetery with a special memorial pillar
to commemorate them.

Although the cemetery location was
chosen to be well outside the metropolis, inevitably the city encroached around
it and then way beyond it. Today it is a very useful green space with some
forestry, as well as a cemetery, in the middle of an urban area. It is located
in the Lawrenceville neighbourhood of Pittsburgh, bounded by Bloomfield,
Garfield and Stanton Heights. Its official address is 4734 Butler Street.

The original prospectus allowed for the
purchase of individual graves or family plots. The prevailing sizes of the
latter were 150, 225, 300, or 500 square feet each. A 150 square foot lot was
for six graves, using wooden rough boxes only, a 225 foot lot was for eight interments
and a 300 foot one ten burials.

So finally we come to the Russell
family.

We know that Charles Tays Russell (CTR’s
Uncle) came to Allegheny and founded a business in 1831, if his obituary is
accurate. Other family members gravitated to the same area. His brother James Russell
is listed in the 1840 census, and he it was who purchased the cemetery plot in
the brand new Allegheny cemetery – initially one assumes due to the death of Sarah
Russell. The family plot is Section 7, Plot 17.

It should be noted that the usual family
tree for the Russells in circulation calls Sarah, James’ sister. There appears
to be no proof of this. The burial registers for both Sarah and James make no
comment on familial relationship. Had Sarah been James’ sister it would have
been more logical for the patriarch, Charles Tays, to buy the family plot. But
it was James who made the purchase, and it would make far more sense for him to
buy the plot for a wife rather a sister; especially as he was soon to be laid
to rest alongside her.

James Russell’s plans included his
extended family also staying there. Forever. Literally. He purchased the 300 square
foot size, designed for ten interments. As it worked out, only nine family
members would eventually use the site.

Exact figures exist for the new
cemetery. Although covering a large number of acres, initially the take-up was
small. In the first year, 1845, from September (the first burial) to the end of
the year there were only eight in total.

In 1846 there were only 29 new interments.
These included Sarah Russell. One must assume that James had the pick of many
potential family plots; his choice then being dictated partly by cost, but also
by situation and outlook.However, total
interments were 67 that year, because there were also 38 re-burials. It was
common in the early days to remove bodies from city cemeteries at the request
of relatives, who wanted a more congenial final resting place for their whole family.

So by the end of 1846, a grand total of
75 burials or re-burials had taken place at the cemetery. Sarah died of
consumption in the December; her burial registration number is 73.

Almost exactly one year later, in
December 1847, James died. His burial registration number is 264. He was laid
to rest next to Sarah in the top row of two on the plot, the one furthest from
the roadway. James died of paralysis, so one assumes he suffered a fatal stroke
at the age of 51. Initially wooden grave markers were the norm, but they are
obviously long gone. The cemetery plan reproduced with this article suggests
that there may have been more substantial grave markers for James and Sarah at
one time, but if so they are also long gone.

So that made it
two down, and eight places left to go in the family plot (only seven of which
were eventually taken up).

By the time James died we assume that Joseph
Lytle (sometimes spelled Lytel) Russell was already living in Pittsburgh, and
it was his branch of the family who would use the site next. The Allegheny
Cemetery charter laid down strict legal provisions for inheritance of family
plots – first to children (James and Sarah do not appear to have had any) then
parents, and then brothers and sisters.

In common with many in those unhealthy
times, Joseph and his wife Ann Eliza were to lose three of their five children
quite early on. Thomas, pictured in the January 1, 1912 WT (but not the
reprints) was the first – he died of whooping cough and was buried in a row
nearest the roadway in front of James and Sarah’s graves. The cemetery record
states he died in August 1855 at the age of five years and three months.

Thomas B Russell had been the firstborn
in 1850, and was no doubt named after his maternal uncle, Thomas Birney, who
lived in Pittsburgh. He was followed by Charles Taze Russell in 1852 (both
Charles and Taze being an obvious nod to his paternal uncle, Charles Tays) and
then Margaret Russell in 1854. Charles and Margaret survived to adulthood of
course, and were finally buried side by side, but elsewhere.

Then a young daughter named Lucinda was
born. She died from scrofula (sometimes spelled scrophula), a form of
tuberculosis affecting lymph nodes in the neck, in July 1858 at the age of a
year and a half. Lastly, there was a young son, Joseph Lytle Jr, who died of
croup at the age of six months in April 1860. The family had been living and
working in Philadelphia at this point, but it was still important to the family
to bring the little bodies back to the Allegheny cemetery for burial in the
family plot.

For the three children, two sad little gravestones
have survived, but they are very weathered and – from photographs at least -
the memorial inscriptions on them are now indistinct.

Finally, after losing her three children, mother Ann
Eliza died from consumption in January 1861. Her funeral took place from the
home of her brother, Thomas Birney, in Pittsburgh. Her will, written just the
month before, when she was no doubt very ill, lists her husband, Joseph Lytle,
as “her agent in Philadelphia.” The notice of death in the Pittsburgh Gazette
for January 26, 1861 calls her the wife of Joseph L Russell (of Philadelphia,
PA).

Her grave stone survives, although it is worn in
places. It reads:

ANN ELIZA

WIFE OF

JOSEPH L RUSSELL

DIED (indistinct) 1861

IN THE 39 YEAR OF

HER LIFE

There is an inscription at the bottom – probably
taken from a scripture – but this writer is unable to decipher it from
photographic evidence. If any reader can do better, please do try. You will
find a photograph of the stone on the Find a Grave website.

After Ann Eliza’s death, the family plot remained
unused for nearly fifteen years. During this time, CTR and his sister grew to
adulthood, and CTR started his spiritual journey in earnest.

Then, in 1875, the oldest of the Russell brothers,
the original Charles Tays died. His life story, such as we know it, is covered
in an earlier article on this blog – The Other Charles T Russell. Charles Tays
died of hepatitis in December 1875 and was buried in the family plot. The grave
was positioned in the top row, next to James and Sarah, whose funerals had been
30 years before. Charles Tays’ grave stone is quite well preserved and again
can be read on the Find a Grave site.

It reads:

IN MEMORY OF

CHARLES TAYS RUSSELL

A NATIVE OF

COUNTY DONEGAL, IRELAND

DIED

AT PITTSBURGH PA

DEC 28 1875

IN THE 70 YEAR

OF HIS AGE

Eleven years went by before the next interment. The
extended Russell family who settled in Pittsburgh included an unmarried sister,
Mary Russell. When Charles Tays died, he left $3000 in a trust fund for her
support. By 1886 the plan had gone awry and it was necessary to dip heavily
into the capital to care for her. (The transcribed legal documents can again be
seen in that earlier article – The Other Charles T Russell). She died in the
September of 1886 and was buried in the top row next to her brother Charles
Tays. No stone seems to have been provided.

There was only one more person who would share this
final resting place, CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle. Joseph had re-married (his
second wife being CTR’s wife’s sister) and they had one child, Mabel, who was
to live until 1961. The family moved from Pittsburgh to Florida, but Joseph
Lytle then returned to Pittsburgh shortly before his death, likely so he could
die there. He was buried alongside his first wife and the three children who
had died before them.

Joseph’s stone reads:

FATHER

JOSEPH L RUSSELL

BORN IN IRELAND

JULY 4 1813

DIED IN ALLEGHENY

DEC 17 1897

The inscription at the bottom reads: Blessed and
holy are all they who have part in the first resurrection. They shall be Kings
and Priests with God.

And that was it, as far as the Allegheny cemetery
plot was concerned; a total of nine interments out of a possible ten. The years
went by, it became forgotten, and grass encroached over the stones lying flat
on the ground; until in fairly recent times the plot was rediscovered. The memorial
inscriptions for Joseph Lytle and Charles Tays are in the best condition today,
but of course they are the most recent.

So why didn’t CTR end up buried here with his family
in the one remaining space?

I have no way of knowing how carefully to
scale the chart of graves reproduced with this article may be, but if accurate,
it might appear that squeezing in another interment could be problematical.
Probably more to the point, CTR was involved in founding a new cemetery.

The Rosemont, Mount Hope and Evergreen United
Cemeteries were founded on land purchased from what was called the Wiebel farm in
1905. One section, the Rosemont Cemetery, was earmarked for Bible Student use.
In his will, written in 1907 CTR directed that he be buried there. By the time
of his death the area was simply called the United Cemeteries.

The aim had been to have a special
section of cemetery for the Bethel family as well as for those who served as
travelling representatives, then called Pilgrims. A 1919 convention report details
plans to erect a pyramid monument in the center of the site on which all their names
would be engraved on the four sides. The special Watch Tower section was
planned to contain 275 burial spaces. CTR was buried at this new location in
early November 1916. Notice of the pyramid’s completion was given in the St
Paul Enterprise for February 10, 1920. By that time all the other surrounding
cemetery land and farmhouse had been sold off, and seven others in addition to
CTR had been buried there.

As it happened, this plan was quite soon
abandoned. A reunion convention of those who had left the Watch Tower society
held a memorial service at CTR’s gravesite in 1929 and on examining the pyramid
monument for inscriptions tartly remarked in their convention report: “either
the friends have not been dying or the plan has been changed.”

The remaining graves were all sold off
and were since used by people unconnected with CTR’s associates.

It is not difficult to guess why this
happened. For a start, there were theological problems with a pyramid monument
as the 1920s wore on, but probably it was logistics more than anything that
caused the change of plan. CTR’s heart was in Allegheny. The new cemetery
company was founded while he still lived there. CTR lived nearly all his life
there, until the move to Brooklyn in 1909. It made sense for him to be buried
there, even if not with his natural family in the Allegheny cemetery. But apart
from a brief switch back to Pittsburgh when J F Rutherford and others were
imprisoned, Brooklyn became the focus for the Watch Tower Society after CTR’s
death. The Bethel family lived in New York. The workers and officials of the
Society generally had no family ties with Pittsburgh. What was the point of the
great expense of shipping bodies all the way back to Pittsburgh? So another cemetery
plot on Staten Island, near the radio station WBBR, became the cemetery of
choice instead.

The only historical postscript is that
when CTR’s sister died in 1934 the family obviously must have had a claim on the
plot next to CTR. She was buried there, with no fanfare, in November 1934. Her
name in death was registered as Margaretta R Land (rather than Margaret). There
is no stone to mark her final resting place.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Thomas B Russell on the left in the picture would have been about five years old when this early photograph was taken with his younger brother, Charles Taze Russell. The picture is found in the January 1, 1912 WT, which states that CTR was three years old at the time. The picture was cropped to only show CTR in the reprint volumes.

Burial register for the Allegheny cemetery showing entry for Thomas. He died of whooping cough on August 11, 1855 at the age of 5 years and 3 months.